
The Amazing Benefits of Elephant and Piggie Books
The author, Mo Willams, either knowingly or unknowingly created a host of books that can teach language skills to young learners.
Below are reasons to use these books to make language learning fun and interesting:
Conversational skills are demonstrated in these books, as they contain characters that interact and take conversational turns page by page. Each animal character has their own color coded speech bubble during interactions between them, making it easier for children to visually identify who is speaking. Using inflection and voices is another great way to demonstrate and signify conversational turns. The size of the font can help a child decide if a character is using a soft or loud voice.
Each book has a theme, and embedded within those themes are social issues. Examples of these themes include; sharing, turn taking, coping with relationships, using imagination and problem solving. The characters in the book have clear facial expressions, body language and visual symbolism to fit the tone of the emotions and content in the story. Through these books, children can learn and understand that everyone experiences things differently, and that it is okay.
All Mo Willam’s books can be used to teach and reinforce conversational skills.
Some of his books can be found online, including, There Is a Bird on My Head:
Book Recommendations with Main Themes:
Theme of Inclusion:
- Can I Play Too?
- A Big Guy Took My Ball
- My New Friend is So Fun
Theme of Using Your Imagination:
- I Am Invited to a Party
- I Am a Frog
- I Really Like Slop
Theme of Sharing:
- I Love My New Toy
-Teal Simmons, Speech Therapist